Work Faster and Smarter

Most people today want everything bigger, better, stronger, and faster. Emphasize on the faster, because we all want to get things done.

If you’re a freelancer, here are really simple hacks to get moving faster on your projects and daily tasks. And of course, these hacks don’t only aim for you to work faster, but smarter too.

Meditate

Clear your mind. With so many things to do, give yourself at least 10 minutes to settle down and relax. This 10-minute meditation will calm your nerves and allow you to better ease into your plans for the day ahead. Meditation also helps you to be more alert and gives you a fresher perspective so you avoid making mistakes and overlooking certain aspects in decision-making.

Plan

Some like to plan on a daily basis, but it also works to plan weekly especially if you’re doing a long-term project. Planning before taking action ensures that each task is given the appropriate amount of attention. Whether you’re brainstorming ideas, executing, or finalizing them, setting timelines will challenge you to finish on schedule as opposed to dilly-dallying and being unproductive until an idea comes along.

Memorize

This isn’t only for the forgetful, but for anyone with a hoard of tasks that subject you to giving out information or inputting data. Documents like spreadsheets, accounts, and database systems need to be filled out and sorted, and other routine and technical tasks (depending on your work) would be accomplished much easier if you remembered the steps. Some memorization techniques include remembering general steps before specific ones, reciting steps out loud, and creating acronyms.

Organize

Sort your tasks from the most important to the least important -- what needs to be done now as opposed to tasks that can be done later. And again, set timelines for each, so you know exactly when you need to finish a task and when to start the next. If you’re a visual person, try color-coding your notes and post-its, to give you a sense of urgency in an array of jobs. Another tip is to separate the creative tasks from the technical ones so you work more fluidly through each task category.

Read

For people who read a lot for work, the only way to improve getting through those long emails and tedious messages is to scan through them. Diligent scanning however requires that you concentrate and stay focused. And what you must do is improve your reading skills, which only means reading more--novels, news, and even listening to audiobooks. This benefits you by improving your vocabulary, widening your knowledge on new concepts, and sharpening your analytical skills.

It's time to stop the old and stressful process of rushing into things and error-driven ways. Try out these simple methods and see how much you can work faster and smarter.